“Tricks to ripen your tomatoes” says Lucy
It can be a bit of a gamble growing outdoor tomatoes, along with their cousins sweet peppers, chillies and aubergines. In less than perfect summers their desire for heat means that you can often be left with lots of unripe fruits come early autumn.
Getting them to ripen-up can be tricky. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had good pickings off my plants, though there are still a few green fruits remaining. You’ve got various options when it comes to ripening them up, so let’s run through each one in turn:
■ Potted plants are obviously the easiest to take care of because pots and hanging baskets can simply be moved into a greenhouse, porch way or sunny conservatory. the extra heat will soon ripen up any stubborn fruits.
■ Slide the prongs of a garden fork under the roots of outdoor plants, and partly ease them out of the soil. the disruption caused will force plants into early maturity.
■ Simultaneously reduce then completely stop watering your outdoor crop. Again, the stress this causes will help remaining fruits to ripen. Water if plants wilt drastically – the aim is to stress them, not kill them!
Outdoor cordon tomatoes can be untied from their vertical supports, laid down on a bed of straw and covered with a clear plastic tunnel cloche. this provides a little extra heat which will aid ripening.
Remove very immature fruit – it helps plants focus on ripening the remainder.